Who doesn't use a DVD player for road trips?

[LuLuO]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We are going on a trip over 4th of July that involves a 4-6 hour drive to my uncle's house. I guess I'll use that as a test drive...lol and see how it goes.

As for our drive to Florida, my mom will also be in the car with us so one of us adults will always be in the back seat to provide stories or entertainment for the kids but obviously there's only so long you can keep that up. We aren't leaving until about 5pm on day 1 and are planning on arriving at our resort late in the afternoon on day 2 so maybe it would be good to have one just in case. I want to have one (or 2) for our trip to Hawaii in 2011 but I was hoping to wait until that year to make the purchase.

One other question, how do you handle one child forward facing and one child rear facing? Do you just get 2 dvd players? Or take turns?

Thanks so much for the responses. You've given me a lot to think about.

 

[Kimberly Hill]

I want to have one (or 2) for our trip to Hawaii in 2011 but I was hoping to wait until that year to make the purchase.

One other question, how do you handle one child forward facing and one child rear facing? Do you just get 2 dvd players? Or take turns?

Thanks so much for the responses. You've given me a lot to think about.

In your situation, I'd be tempted to see if I could borrow one (or two) for your short trip at least, and probably for the longer one as well. If it's not something you need on a regular basis, you might be able to find a friend who (like us) only use them once or twice a year.

 

[disneydad78]

just a quick point and im out. I know everyone has their views. I have 3 kids,ages below. They would fight, argue, like everyone kids do. We bought my DD her own portable one,she loves it and IPOD. The back seat in suv is her space. My 2 sons have the middle seat. We bought them 2 screens on back head rest. This has been a blessing,,a BLESSING. Now my wife and I can talk and not hear fighting. Now Im not going to tell you it hasnt stopped, but 80% has. They all have own headphones,love it!!

LOVE IT!!

 

[ktlm]

My 23 month old has never seen one ... but he will SOON. The terrible 2's kicked in early. And with potty training he uses "Pee potty, please" as a means to try to escape that car seat, even when he does NOT have to pee. He screams, arches, kicks, etc. He HATES riding in the car. So, we will be trying the bad parent 101 trick of a portable DVD player VERY soon. He loves Thomas and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so we are giving in. Sorta sad.

I can sympathize. That definitely brings back memories. Don't feel bad, just do it! He probably just hates being strapped in- I think that was DD's problem. Some of the tricks above made me laugh remembering that we didn't get such good results with those. It's not like we just left her on her own in the back seat either. I always sit next to her in the back to talk and play (or when she was little to actually keep her from wiggling out of the car seat which was a regular attempt), while DH chauffers. Getting her out of the car to stretch her legs resulted in screaming, stretching and kicking not to get back in. We once spent 30 minutes in a parking lot trying to get her back in her car seat at the 1/2 way point of a trip to the inlaws. Tried the little surprises- she looked at them for about 2 minutes and then threw them across the car. Snacks-- they can only eat so much. Magna doodle and Etcha sketch- 2 minutes. Crayons- thrown. Books- even at 1, she would sit on the floor of her room looking at little board books for an hour or more, but get her in the car and within 2 minutes she chunked them on the floor of the car. Listening to Music- not really interested at that age. Nothing really interesting to see out the window on most of our trips. "Look cow" usually worked the first time or two and then she wouldn't even turn her head to look. Singing songs worked briefly, but within a few minutes she would reach over and put her hand over my mouth to make me stop. Napping= great in the car- IF it happened which was rare- not so great when we got to our destination and she would be wide awake and up until 1 or 2 am. She was a very early talker, so by 2 she was voicing her opinion of the carseat and her request to get out or be there already in full and complete sentences. The DVD player was a sanity saver for us. We would have done it earlier if we had known it was going to completely stop the battles.

 

[karemore]

We're leaving from NY on saturday with DD(5) and no DVD player. I'm not even sure why I am so anti-DVD player in the car, but it just feels wrong for us.

I have a bag packed with books, coloring pages, a homemade sticker chart for miles/hours/states so she can track our trip, wrapped surprises for her to open periodically, and some surprise snacks. Yes, I'll have to interact with her more than if she was watching movies, but that's part of the reason we're taking a family road trip.

Now a grandma in the backseat sounds good to me!! I'd bring one of those before I'd bring a dvd player.

 

[cogero]

My dd gets extremely carsick and we don't generally drive. This weekend we went for a 4 hour drive and used our dvd player. I think it was great.

My daughter cannot read or draw in the car so that makes driving a bit difficult

 

[disneydad78]

We're leaving from NY on saturday with DD(5) and no DVD player. I'm not even sure why I am so anti-DVD player in the car, but it just feels wrong for us.

I have a bag packed with books, coloring pages, a homemade sticker chart for miles/hours/states so she can track our trip, wrapped surprises for her to open periodically, and some surprise snacks. Yes, I'll have to interact with her more than if she was watching movies, but that's part of the reason we're taking a family road trip.

Now a grandma in the backseat sounds good to me!! I'd bring one of those before I'd bring a dvd player.

LOL we tried that, then they began to fight over colors and got bored with coloring pages soon. So one decided to color our seats. We have 3 kids, and when your driving and have been doing this for 13 yrs, you will try anything.!!Its alot ALOT easier with just one kid.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Yup -- all the time. When they're really little like yours, though, you have to plan stuff to keep them from getting utterly bored on a super-long trip, though (but you knew that!). When our guys were very young, we'd pack a surprise box for each of them with individual little "gifts" (cheap-o toys) to open every hour (or whenever). That, combined with what others have said -- music, getting out often to run around and stretch, little games -- can go a long way to making a trip smoother.

For a fun snack "kit" you can get a tackle box sorter -- those white/clear ones with the moveable dividers -- and fill each compartment with a snack with play potential (cheerios, little pretzel sticks, grapes, whatever). If you make up a batch of peanut butter "play doh" ahead of time, the kids use the snack boxes to make monsters and whatever. A little messy, sure, but whose family car isn't? (Actually, an old sheet across the seat under car seats/floor can go a long way to quick clean up.)

I'm not adverse to DVDs in cars, we just never had a real need for them.

I love this idea about the tackle box and peanut butter playdough!! Will have to remember this one, thanks!

We used our DVD players the last time we drove down from ny but on the way home no because both older girls stepped on the charges on the way down at 2 different bathroom breaks and broke the ends that plug in the car to charge and those batteries don't go long without being plugged in, it was fine though because by the time we drove home from 10 days of Disney they slept mostly on and off the whole way

 

[Chelley00]

We have one in our van, but we have rules

...the trip has to be at least an hour long before we turn it on.

...for every minute they watch a movie, they have to play without it on for that same amount of time. For an 80 minute movie, they have to play quietly for 80 minutes.I ALWAYS stretch it longer though and they never know.

 

[bwilcox]

I don't have the same philosophy as you but we made a 20 hour car trip with similar age kids last summer, so I'm chiming in. I bought TONS of cheap little toys, stickers, and coloring books at dollar stores to keep my kids busy in the car. Well, we quickly found out that when my 3 year old was looking down in the car playing with them, it made him carsick. Vomit is not fun to try to clean out of a carseat in the parking lot of a 7-11! So the rest of the trip, he had nothing to entertain him BUT the DVD player, which didn't make him sick I guess because it was mounted to the ceiling.

I agree that I have great memories of road trips when I was little looking at the scenery and listening to music, BUT not for 18 hours and not when I was 3. When my kids are older, we'll probably let them watch only one movie per trip and entertain themselves the rest of the time. But now that they are preschoolers, I do whatever I can to keep them happy on long trips. They don't get to watch much TV at home, so once a year on a long car trip doesn't hurt them.
Disclaimer: I'm not saying you're wrong, just wanted to give you my experience under similar circumstances.

 

[humboldthny]

We take a DVD player as well...but usually dd6 is done with it after one movie. She's not really in the habit of watching movies in the car since the only time she ever gets to do it is on road trips, and that happens only once or twice a year...she's equally as happy listening to music or books on tape, coloring, doing scavenger hunts that I create for her (find 10 semis, 3 water towers, 8 birds flying, a car in each color of the rainbow, every letter of the alphabet, 5 stop signs, etc.), and this year she'll be able to read her chapter books in the car as well!

I say take it along, and if you never have occasion to use it, then great...but if you need it you'll have it!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I'm a member of the "Anything That Will Keep My Kids Quiet in the Car" Club. They are LOUD. They are 7 and 4. The 7-yr-old can read for a few minutes but then complains about not feeling well. As someone who also cannot read but about 2 pages in the car before I start to feel ill, I sympathize. I've tried coloring pages, cars, little toys, magna-doodles; nothing gets played with for more than 5 minutes. To save my and my husband's sanity in the car, we turn on the built-in DVD player after about 30 minutes on the road and they will watch a DVD, then have some time off for awhile, then we do another one. Wireless headphones are a lifesaver!

The longest drives we make are 7-8 hours and I get bored; I can only imagine that my kids are bored after a couple of hours also. When I was a kid and traveling in my grandparents' motorhome, we played card games, board games, etc, but we could move around and sit at the table, or on the benches in the back. We try to get to our destination as quickly as possible and the DVD player helps us achieve that!

 

[littlbugmom]

We don't take long trips because I would go insane. We do up to 5hr trips and even then, use the DVD player. The kids are not glued to it. They'll watch a movie and then turn it off. They've never watched more than one and sometimes, don't even watch the whole thing. We still do all of the fun stuff and enjoy the time together. Having a movie break does not steal any of the special time.


I remember long road trips with my family. Those are great memories....we played with toys, car games, sang songs, talked, had snacks, looked out the windows, stopped at rest stops to run around, etc...all that fun stuff we do with our kids now. But I also remember being bored. It wasn't all fun. Some of it was very NOT fun.


Of course, we could take a trip without a DVD player but I don't see the difference between them being entertained by a show or being entertained by the countless other things we use to distract us from the fact that we're sitting in one spot for hours and hours.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We actually do have a DVD (Grandpa bought it for DS) but it only goes with us on trips of 2 hours or more. I like having the option, but if you're looking to go without one, I recommend stories on CD! Listening is getting to be a lost passtime nowadays, and kids really do enjoy it. (Not to mention the fact that it's good to develop the skill for later in school.)

The ones in the title are our favorites - very funny and appeal to a wide range of ages, even the grown-ups. I bought those on line, but you may be able to borrow things at your library, too.

I also second a lot of moving at rest stops! It was different when we could move more in the car, and I'm sure those little legs get uncomfortable dangling so much.

Also, did anyone mention that Colorforms will stick to car windows? I love Wikisticks, too. (That would be more for the 3-year-old.)

 

[taymaesmom]

My girls both have their own dvd players and have had them for years (a gift from the inlaws). I have to be honest and say they are rarely used. My oldest (now 15) uses it more now than when she was little but still wont watch more than 2 dvds during our 14 hour drive. She has always enjoyed listening to music and watch the world pass by. Our youngest (now 11) never uses hers, she often tells us not to bring it and wont bring movies either. She is our sleeper though, she will end up sleeping 10 hours of our trip, she cant be in the car 15 mins and she's sound asleep.

So your decision to not bring on is not far off. Mine have always been content to color, read, listen to music, play car games etc.

 

[MammaNicholas]

When DD was 18mts old, we drove 12hrs to WDW with no problems. My mom and nephew were there to keep her company.

When she was 3, we drove the 12hrs to US. Once again, no problems, my mom and brother were there to keep her company.

When she was 5 and ds was 18mts, we flew. DH vowed we never drive again. Flight was an hour and a half at most, and kids were happy the whole way with nothing but the window to watch.

Add in numerous road trips in our state and to Mississippi, and we never really had a problem with them keeping themself entertained.

Now this trip. DD 8 and DS 4. Airfare is too expensive to fly, so we're driving. We got one for this trip. Why, because I was able to get an awsome deal on a dual one. And for the trip I got them some more School House Rock(SHR) and Books on DVD sets. Stuff they can learn from, but hoping they'll still take the time to do fun things like road sign bingo, I Spy, License plate game, and watching the trees and cars as we go by.

School House Rock. Just the other day my daughter was telling me about something they learned in class she saw on one of their SHR. I remember how cool it felt when I realized I learned something from SHR

 

[taximomfor4]

We have a dvd player in the van, but only 2 kids can see it. It's an 18 hr drive (not including stops) from here, but they only watch a very small portion of the drive. Maybe 3 movies total...so less than 6 hours. Gives them 10 hours to "enjoy" the drive in other ways.

Our basic rule of thumb: we drive for hours BEFORE putting the first movie in. And on our many under-4-hour road trips, it's there but nobody asks to watch anything.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

We used to not bring a DVD player and it was horrible. Portable DVD player is the BEST invention for long drives and we take long drives at least 10 times a year with the kids (8 to 20 hours per drive). We do not watch it 'non-stop' at all. Usually everyone is so excited when you first take off that you just talk for the first hour or two. And then the backpacks come out and they draw and play. And we'll play a license plate game and then, well, it's a nice time to watch a movie (nothing like watching a Disney movie to get you excited!) or a TV show on DVD. But we don't watch the DVD straight but it is great to have to pass the time.
You can always bring it and NOT use it

 

[JoanGirardi]

We have driven NY to Louisiana every year for all of my children's lives--23 hours one way, and the kids are now 19, 17, and 16. We all remember the years before the DVD player with fondness, but all agree that being able to pop in a movie made the ride easier on all of us. Even better was the addition of the GameCube and Wii, which I fully expect to draw flames from those who don't believe in video games either. Wireless remotes and the split middle seat means that all three can watch and play at once. I did it all over the years--bags and travel desks with surprises, books, pipe cleaners, legos, matchbox cars, Polly Pocket, you name it and it traveled with us on that trip. I read books out loud and we danced to the Disney favorite friends cassettes. That was all fun and exhausting. They still talk about how we played follow the leader around the parking lots of the rest stops, which is how I got them to hop, wiggle, and jump so we could go the next three hours before DH would stop for gas. My point, I guess, is that adding in the DVD player and video games does not take anything away from the memories of those family trips for my children. We are actually flying down this summer instead of driving, and the kids protested---They look forward to the trip, and aren't sure how they'll like flying instead of having the drive. Mom and Dad, however, are thrilled. Go with your instinct on what will work best for you and your family, and have a great trip.

 

[jodifla]

I don't understand why anyone would WANT to go on a really long trip with young kids without a DVD player.

They can't yet read, their language isn't fully in to sit there and talk for 18 hours, they can't move around because they are immobilized in those strait jackets they call car seats....what are they supposed to do??